A Belated Christmas Post
NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Waiting for Santa with tree lights creating a natural vignette -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/30 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — full exif
Waiting for Santa
with tree lights creating a natural vignette

Posting about Christmas now is a bit late, but I'm still trying to recover after watching the last week of the year evaporate, so here we are.

Christmas Morning -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — full exif
Christmas Morning

We started things off with a present from my folks for Anthony, which turned out to be a little Curious George ornament in which George is reading a George-related Christmas book.

Getting Started with George -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 280 — full exif
Getting Started with George

It turns out that we actually own the George book featured in the little ornament, so I tried to grab a quick snap of the two, but it was difficult to zoom up close enough to make the page in the ornament clearly visible while still being far enough back to get the page of the real book in view...

George Book and Miniature with some concentration you can realize that the miniature page is the same as the big page -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — full exif
George Book and Miniature
with some concentration you can realize that the miniature page is the same as the big page

We had a nice time opening up all the presents.

The highlight for Anthony was the Star Wars® LEGO™ set from Santa, but he also enjoyed the present from my folks to Fumie, a Teaposy “blooming tea” set that we put to use with the cake we had after the presents were all opened.

I'd never hear of “blooming tea”, but it's apparently popular considering the number of people who answered my aquatic “What am I?” quiz the other day.

The dry “bulb” is placed in a pot...

Place Bulb -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif
Place Bulb
Add Boiling Water -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — full exif
Add Boiling Water
Watch It Slowly Unfurl -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif
Watch It Slowly Unfurl
Realize You Didn't Put Enough Water ( this step optional ) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — full exif
Realize You Didn't Put Enough Water
( this step optional )
Bloom -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — full exif
Bloom

And now we're to the point of the quiz photo:

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

The various parts of the “posy” have been stitched together with some kind of natural(-looking) thread such that it looks like a complete (if not other-worldly) whole. It was quite the hit, and the tea was actually tasty, too. Thanks Mom!

A Hit With Anthony Too using the LEGO™ camera that Fumie got me for Christmas -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — full exif
A Hit With Anthony Too
using the LEGO™ camera that Fumie got me for Christmas
Checking Out His Results -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — full exif
Checking Out His Results

Tea can hold an 8-year-old's interest for only so long, especially when new toys are waiting for his attention...

Working the Lego one of many new ones -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif
Working the Lego
one of many new ones

Hours later, the toy from Santa was built...

Success! Star Wars AT-TE Walker -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5600 — full exif
Success!
Star Wars AT-TE Walker

All 5 comments so far, oldest first...

How does the Lego camera compare to the key chain one that you got on your birthday?

Well, it’s got a fun look, but it’s not a serious camera at all… the quality is horrible, but it’s better than that little 0.3MP camera from before. Also, there seems to be no way to set the date for the photo metadata… it adds a date (unlike the little one, which has no metadata), but it’s always screwed up…. the CreateDate for one shot is “2002:66::1 @8:39:;3” for example, and the ModifyDate is “2008:03:05 15:30:30”). I’ve yet to really study the little instruction sheet, but a quick scan showed nothing about the date. It’s fine for Anthony to play with for a short while (memory holds something like 75 shots), but that’s about it. —Jeffrey

— comment by parv on January 7th, 2011 at 10:36pm JST (13 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Love the Lego camera… we were thinking about getting one on our last trip over… they look so unique. Of course… it would be for our son… once he got a little older… of course….

— comment by AdelaideBen on January 7th, 2011 at 11:38pm JST (13 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

A Pentax K-r should keep both of you happy, even comes with working metadata writing (I could verify the last bit for you if you would send me one).

🙂

— comment by parv on January 8th, 2011 at 6:16am JST (13 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Better late than never, Yes?
Special Day indeed!!
When I was in Japan recently, I was pleasantly surprised that ‘non Christians’ did celebrate Christmas as well!

— comment by lenore* on January 8th, 2011 at 7:09am JST (13 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Glad Anthony like the little “George” ornament. Amazing that you found the replicated page in your own book.
The only difference I noticed is that your book is in Japanese and the ornament was in English. What a wonderful world!

— comment by Grandma Friedl on January 9th, 2011 at 8:35am JST (13 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink
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